DOCSLIB.ORG

"Edmund Burke (1729–97)." Conservative Moments: Reading Conservative Texts

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Garnett, Mark. "Edmund Burke (1729–97)." Conservative Moments: Reading Conservative Texts. Ed. Mark Garnett. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 35–42. Textual Moments in the History of Political Thought. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 25 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350001565.ch-005>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 25 September 2021, 16:39 UTC. Copyright © Mark Garnett 2018. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 35 CHAPTER FIVE Edmund Burke (1729– 97) Mark Garnett In this enlightened age I am bold enough to confess, that we are generally men of untaught feelings; that instead of casting away all our old prejudices, we cherish them to a very considerable degree, and, to take more shame to ourselves, we cherish them because they are prejudices; and the longer they have lasted, and the more generally they have prevailed, the more we cherish them. We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would be better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations, and of ages. Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they fi nd what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice, with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice, and to leave nothing but the naked reason; because prejudice, with its reason, has a motive to give action to that reason, and an affection which will give it permanence. Prejudice is of ready application in the emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the 99781350001534_pi-158.indd781350001534_pi-158.indd 3355 220-Apr-180-Apr-18 77:02:41:02:41 PPMM 36 36 CONSERVATIVE MOMENTS man hesitating in a moment of decision, sceptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man’s virtue his habit; and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature. 1 Edmund Burke’s claims for inclusion in the present volume are obvious; indeed, he is widely recognized as the founder of modern conservatism. Born and educated in Ireland, Burke abandoned the idea of following his father into the legal profession after migrating to London in 1750. Initially, he supported himself through writing, publishing A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful in 1757 and becoming the founder- editor of the Annual Register in the following year. Always fascinated by politics, in 1765, he was appointed private secretary to the prime minister, Lord Rockingham, whose infl uence secured him a seat in the House of Commons. He remained an MP for almost 30 years, and served briefl y as a junior government minister in the 1780s. The problem of selection is unusually acute in Burke’s case. The critic William Hazlitt – a vehement opponent of Burke’s ideas – wrote after his death that ‘to do him justice, it would be necessary to quote all his works; the only specimen of Burke is, all that he wrote’. 2 The excerpt chosen for this chapter comes from the predictable source – Burke’s Refl ections on the Revolution in France (1790), from which numerous passages could be selected. This one typifi es the characteristic which makes the Refl ections such a notable landmark in the history of conservative thought. Burke attacked the French Revolution – then in its early stages – both in theory and practice. Yet his account was not purely negative; the positive reasons Burke advanced for adhering to the status quo in France were founded on principles which could be applied in other countries (not least Britain itself). In short, through his defence of the pre- Revolutionary regime in France, Burke furnished something like a transnational manifesto for anyone who shared his general antipathy towards radical change. As the excerpt suggests, Burke founded his case on a specifi c view of human nature. Tacitly, he drew a distinction between ‘Men of speculation’ and members of a community who, whether or not they enjoy direct political infl uence, do not endeavour to penetrate beneath the surface of events. Embracing without apology a word which even in Burke’s day had strongly negative connotations – as Jane Austen confi rmed in 1813 by twinning it with ‘pride’ – Burke argued that ‘prejudice’ was crucial to any functioning society. His notion of prejudice could, perhaps, have been given the more positive name of ‘common sense’; it was a compound of intuition, folk memory and personal experience. This, he argued, is a far more reliable guide to action than abstract reason. In social interactions, 99781350001534_pi-158.indd781350001534_pi-158.indd 3366 220-Apr-180-Apr-18 77:02:41:02:41 PPMM 37 EDMUND BURKE 37 it leads to a spontaneous preference for ‘virtuous’ conduct. In politics, it inspires profound respect for long- established institutions and practices. On close examination, political arrangements which seem unsupported by anything beyond unthinking ‘prejudice’ will almost invariably turn out to be susceptible to justifi cation on rational grounds. Limited reforms will usually be suffi cient to redress perceived abuses; in contrast, radical measures inspired by visions of political perfection are likely to make a tolerable situation much worse. On the face of it, Burke’s account could seem to have egalitarian implications. If prejudice is such a reliable guide, surely it must be safe to trust the general judgement of the people? However, Burke was a vehement opponent of democratic ideas, and spoke out against even modest proposals to reform the existing franchise in that direction. In the course of a 1782 speech on this subject, he had argued that ‘The individual is foolish; the multitude, for the moment is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the species is wise.’ 3 This seems diffi cult to reconcile with the message of the Refl ections , which implies that prejudice is good precisely because it prompts virtuous conduct without any need for ‘deliberation’. Burke, though, would not have recognized any inconsistency. In his view, ‘the bank and capital of nations, and of ages’ suggested that political decisions should be entrusted to a suitably qualifi ed elite. Thankfully, in Britain, there was a popular ‘prejudice’ in favour of this arrangement, which allowed ordinary people to go about their business without demanding greater infl uence in matters beyond their comprehension. At times of crisis, it may be proper for opinion- leaders – ‘men of speculation’ – to examine existing principles and practices. If the elite uses its infl uence responsibly, it will provide reassurance to ‘the multitude’, since, on inspection, it will discover the ‘latent wisdom’ which underpins the status quo. The real danger to society lies not in the prejudice in favour of deference, but rather in the possibility that ‘men of speculation’ will betray their privileged position by encouraging ‘the multitude’ to take independent action, or (still worse) to start speculating for themselves. The ensuing debate showed that Burke had been right to identify the concept of ‘prejudice’ as a key line of division among commentators on the Revolution. In his reply to Burke, The Rights of Man (1791), Thomas Paine admitted that ‘We have but a defective idea of what prejudice is.’ But whatever it might be, it should be eradicated and replaced by ‘opinion’, which demanded rational refl ection. ‘No man’, Paine wrote, ‘is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it in the belief that it is right; and when he sees it is not so, the prejudice will be gone.’ 4 Paine thought that everyone should be suffi ciently educated to be in a position to develop ‘opinions’, rather than relying on ‘prejudice’. During the American Revolution, Burke and Paine had been allies of a kind, since Burke sympathized with the American rebels. But times had changed dramatically 99781350001534_pi-158.indd781350001534_pi-158.indd 3377 220-Apr-180-Apr-18 77:02:41:02:41 PPMM 38 38 CONSERVATIVE MOMENTS since then, and what Paine had considered to be ‘common sense’ when he wrote the infl uential pamphlet of that name (1775– 76) seemed a recipe for murderous chaos to Edmund Burke of 1789. ‘Common sense’ and ‘prejudice’ might be value- laden words to denote what is essentially the same thing, but to the followers of Burke and Paine, they suggested entirely different responses to the political dilemmas of France after 1789. The Burkean view implies an overriding concern for social and political stability; Paine’s ideas suggest a refusal to tolerate anything other than a dispensation which would win approval from a ‘rational’ observer. In short, responses to the debate between Burke and Paine over the value of ‘prejudice’ can be regarded as a key diagnostic test of ‘conservatism’ and liberalism to this day. Burke’s Refl ections was a major publishing success even before the worst excesses of the French Revolution; when the French political classes started using the guillotine to settle their political scores, he could be hailed as an inspired prophet. This did not mean, however, that Burke was right in his diagnosis of the causes of the Revolution. As someone who attributed a central role in politics to ideas, it was not surprising that he was unduly harsh on French philosophes , notably Voltaire and Rousseau (‘Atheists are not our preachers: madmen are not our lawgivers’ [137]).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Edmund Burke on Establishment and Tolerance
    This article from Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy is published by Eleven international publishing and made available to anonieme bezoeker R&R 2008 / 3 Bijdragen ‘The True Spirit of Toleration’* Edmund Burke on Establishment and Tolerance Matthijs de Blois** It is commonly taken for granted that the protection of freedom of thought, conscience and religion requires that the State be neutral. That means that there is no state religion, and that all religions and beliefs are viewed as equal from the perspective of the State. This approach is epitomized in the separation of state and church, or more broadly, in the separation of politics and religion. Sometimes, the expression ‘secular State’ is used to refer to this regime, for example in Article 1 of the Constitution of the French Republic. The idea of the neutrality of the State is generally seen as the outcome of the developments that transformed the political philosophy of the Enlight- enment into constitutional law. Its philosophical roots can be traced back to Locke’s famous ‘A Letter concerning Toleration’, where he stated that ‘it is above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion, and to settle the just bound that lie between the one and the other.’1 The liberal defence of the separation of state and church stresses the separation between the private and the pub- lic spheres. The more radical varieties of liberal thinking even imply that religion belongs entirely to the private sphere, and should not in any way play a role in public life.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Romantic Liberalism
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Romantic Liberalism DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in English by Brent Lewis Russo Dissertation Committee: Professor Jerome Christensen, Chair Professor Andrea Henderson Associate Professor Irene Tucker 2014 Chapter 1 © 2013 Trustees of Boston University All other materials © 2014 Brent Lewis Russo TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii CURRICULUM VITAE iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION v INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: Charles Lamb’s Beloved Liberalism: Eccentricity in the Familiar Essays 9 CHAPTER 2: Liberalism as Plenitude: The Symbolic Leigh Hunt 33 CHAPTER 3: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Illiberalism and the Early Reform Movement 58 CHAPTER 4: William Hazlitt’s Fatalism 84 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Charles Rzepka and the Trustees of Boston University for permission to include Chapter One of my dissertation, which was originally published in Studies in Romanticism (Fall 2013). Financial support was provided by the University of California, Irvine Department of English, School of Humanities, and Graduate Division. iii CURRICULUM VITAE Brent Lewis Russo 2005 B.A. in English Pepperdine University 2007 M.A. in English University of California, Irvine 2014 Ph.D. in English with Graduate Emphasis in Critical Theory University of California, Irvine PUBLICATIONS “Charles Lamb’s Beloved Liberalism: Eccentricity in the Familiar Essays.” Studies in Romanticism. Fall 2013. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Romantic Liberalism By Brent Lewis Russo Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Irvine, 2014 Professor Jerome Christensen, Chair This dissertation examines the Romantic beginnings of nineteenth-century British liberalism. It argues that Romantic authors both helped to shape and attempted to resist liberalism while its politics were still inchoate.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roots of Modern Conservative Thought from Burke to Kirk Edwin J
    No. 19 The Roots of Modern Conservative Thought from Burke to Kirk Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D. merica is the most successful and enduring exper- who nurtured the roots with their law and social Aiment in democracy in human history. It has sur- awareness. vived foreign invasion and terrorist attacks, world The roots intertwined with “the Christian under- wars and a civil war, a great depression and not so standing of human duties and human hopes, of man small recessions, presidential assassinations and scan- redeemed,” and were then joined by medieval custom, dals, an adversary culture and even the mass media. It learning, and valor.2 is the most powerful, prosperous, and envied nation The roots were enriched, finally, by two great exper- in the world. iments in law and liberty that occurred in London, What is the source of America’s remarkable suc- home of the British Parliament, and in Philadelphia, cess? Its abundant natural resources? Its hardworking, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the entrepreneurial, can-do people? Its fortuitous loca- U.S. Constitution. Kirk’s analysis thus might be called tion midway between Europe and Asia? Its resilient a tale of five cities—Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, national will? and Philadelphia. Why do we Americans enjoy freedom, opportunity, Much more could be said about the philosophi- and prosperity as no other people in history have? cal contributions of the Jews, the Greeks, and the In The Roots of American Order, the historian Rus- Romans to the American experience, but I will limit sell Kirk provides a persuasive answer: America is not myself to discuss the roots of modern conservative only the land of the free and the home of the brave, but thought that undergird our nation and which for a place of ordered liberty.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Life of Edmund Burke
    INTRODUCTION 1 Empire and Revolution Th is is a book about the vicissitudes of empire and revolution as confronted by one of the leading political intellects of the eighteenth century. Th e confrontation was complicated in a number of distinct ways. In the fi rst place the term “revolution” had a range of meanings. At its simplest it could denominate a change in the system of government. Yet it could also cover resistance to an established political order lead- ing to the creation of a new regime. Finally it could refer to the subversion of govern- ment along with the various liberties it was supposed to protect. Over the course of his life, Edmund Burke defended revolution in the fi rst two senses although he ardently set himself against the third. But while he supported the rights of legitimate rebellion, he also consistently upheld the authority of empire. However, the picture here was again a complex one. Burke cherished the rights of British imperial sover- eignty, yet he vehemently opposed the standing policies of the Empire. Underlying this apparent ambivalence was a commitment to the rights of conquest accompanied by a repudiation of the “spirit of conquest.” Th is referred to the attitude of usur- pation that Burke believed had characterised European governments in the gothic past. Although governments of the kind had their origins in expropriation, they had gradually accommodated the “spirit of liberty.” Nonetheless, modern liberty for Burke was a precarious achievement. It was capable of relapsing into the spirit of domination, not least in its interactions with the extra- European world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Misunderstood Philosophy of Thomas Paine
    THE MISUNDERSTOOD PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS PAINE A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of History Jason Kinsel December, 2015 THE MISUNDERSTOOD PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS PAINE Jason Kinsel Thesis Approved: Accepted: ______________________________ _____________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Walter Hixson Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ______________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Martino-Trutor Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ______________________________ Department Chair Date Dr. Martin Wainwright ii ABSTRACT The name Thomas Paine is often associated with his political pamphlet Common Sense. The importance of “Common Sense” in regards to the American Revolution has been researched and debated by historians, political scientists, and literary scholars. While they acknowledge that Paine’s ideas and writing style helped to popularize the idea of separation from Great Britain in 1776, a thorough analysis of the entirety of Paine’s philosophy has yet to be completed. Modern scholars have had great difficulty with categorizing works such as, The Rights of Man, Agrarian Justice, and Paine’s Dissertation on First Principles of Government. Ultimately, these scholars feel most comfortable with associating Paine with the English philosopher John Locke. This thesis will show that Paine developed a unique political philosophy that is not only different from Locke’s in style, but fundamentally opposed to the system of government designed by Locke in his Second Treatise of Government. Furthermore, I will provide evidence that Paine’s contemporary’s in the American Colonies and Great Britain vehemently denied that Paine’s ideas resembled those of Locke in any way.
    [Show full text]
  • 'What Is Life?' Mathelinda Nabugodi Antae, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Oct., 2016)
    148 166 Answering the Question: ‘What is Life?’ Mathelinda Nabugodi antae, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Oct., 2016), 149-166 Proposed Creative Commons Copyright Notices Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. b. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). antae is an international refereed postgraduate journal aimed at exploring current issues and debates within English Studies, with a particular interest in literature, criticism and their various contemporary interfaces. Set up in 2013 by postgraduate students in the Department of English at the University of Malta, it welcomes submissions situated across the interdisciplinary spaces provided by diverse forms and expressions within narrative, poetry, theatre, literary theory, cultural criticism, media studies, digital cultures, philosophy and language studies. Creative writing and book reviews are also accepted. Nabugodi, ‘Answering the Question: “What is Life”’ 149 Answering the Question: ‘What is Life?’ Mathelinda Nabugodi University College London Percy Bysshe Shelley’s final poem, ‘The Triumph of Life’—cut short by Shelley’s death by drowning on the 8th of July 1822—offers a series of dream visions in which life’s triumphal procession appears.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature, Emotions, and the Possible: Hazlitt and Stendhal
    Literature, Emotions, and the Possible: Hazlitt and Stendhal “A possible experience or a possible truth does not equate to real experience or real truth minus the value ’real’; but at least in the opinion of its devotees, it has in it something out-and- out divine, a fiery, soaring quality, a constructive will, a conscious utopianism that does not shrink from reality but treats it, on the contrary, as a mission and an invention.” (Robert Musil, The Man without Qualities) Since the 1970s, literary criticism has been dominated first by formalist and then by cultural studies approaches with a general attitude of contempt for science, reason, and the truth. Paradoxically, in the last decades, literary critics have avoided confronting what is fundamental in literature: its intrinsic value as literature, and its ability to represent and express human psychology. The ethical and the aesthetic dimensions of literary forms have been neglected in favour of a sometimes vague sociological vision and a repetitive Freudian- Lacanian interpretation; they reduce the immense variety of affective phenomena to a few complexes (Oedipus, castration) or to an empty linguistic game. Fortunately, for the sake of literature, since the 1980s, some analytical philosophers have been interested in the affective dimension, and have been reflecting on the emotions elicited by the arts and on the knowledge value of literature. As evident nowadays, several disciplines are undergoing what can be called the affective turn, and a new vision of literary and artistic phenomena, revisiting some questions debated since Aristotle and very important in the eighteenth century, is shattering the structuralist, poststructuralist, deconstructionist, and postmodern spell.
    [Show full text]
  • THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY of JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU the Impossibilityof Reason
    qvortrup.cov 2/9/03 12:29 pm Page 1 Was Rousseau – the great theorist of the French Revolution – really a Conservative? THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU This original study argues that the author of The Social Contract was a constitutionalist much closer to Madison, Montesquieu and Locke than to revolutionaries. Outlining his profound opposition to Godless materialism and revolutionary change, this book finds parallels between Rousseau and Burke, as well as showing that Rousseau developed the first modern theory of nationalism. The book presents an inte- grated political analysis of Rousseau’s educational, ethical, religious and political writings. The book will be essential readings for students of politics, philosophy and the history of ideas. ‘No society can survive without mutuality. Dr Qvortrup’s book shows that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. It is an excellent primer for any- one wishing to understand how renewal of democracy hinges on a strong civil society’ The Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, MP ‘Rousseau has often been singled out as a precursor of totalitarian thought. Dr Qvortrup argues persuasively that Rousseau was nothing of the sort. Through an array of chapters the book gives an insightful account of Rousseau’s contribution to modern philosophy, and how he inspired individuals as diverse as Mozart, Tolstoi, Goethe, and Kant’ John Grey, Professor of European Political Thought,LSE ‘Qvortrup has written a highly readable and original book on Rousseau. He approaches the subject of Rousseau’s social and political philosophy with an attractively broad vision of Rousseau’s thought in the context of the development of modernity, including our contemporary concerns.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hazlitt Review
    THE HAZLITT REVIEW The Hazlitt Review is an annual peer-reviewed journal, the first internationally to be devoted to Hazlitt studies. The Review aims to promote and maintain Hazlitt’s standing, both in the academy and to a wider readership, by providing a forum for new writing on Hazlitt, by established scholars as well as more recent entrants in the field. Editor Uttara Natarajan Assistant Editors Helen Hodgson, Phillip Hunnekuhl Editorial Board Geoffrey Bindman James Mulvihill David Bromwich Tom Paulin Jon Cook Seamus Perry Gregory Dart Michael Simpson Philip Davis Fiona Stafford A.C. Grayling Graeme Stones Paul Hamilton John Whale Ian Mayes Duncan Wu Tim Milnes Scholarly essays (4000–7000 words) and reviews should follow the MHRA style. The Board is also happy to consider more informal submissions from Hazlitt’s lay readership. Email [email protected] or post to Uttara Natarajan, c/o Department of English & Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London SE14 6NW. We regret that we cannot publish material already published or submitted elsewhere. Subscriptions, including membership of the Hazlitt Society: £10 (individual); £15 (corporate). Overseas subscriptions: $24 (individual) or $35 (corporate). Cheques/postal orders, made payable to the Hazlitt Society, to be sent to Helen Hodgson, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG Enquiries to [email protected] or by post to Helen Hodgson. www.williamhazlitt.org ISSN 1757-8299 Published 2012 by The Hazlitt Society c/o Dept of English & Comparative
    [Show full text]
  • Edmund Burke, John Whyte and Themes in Canadian Constitutional Culture
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2006 Edmund Burke, John Whyte and Themes in Canadian Constitutional Culture David Schneiderman Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/207 31 Queen's L.J. 578-597 (2006) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Legal History Commons GEORGETOWN LAW Faculty Publications February 2010 Edmund Burke, John Whyte and Themes in Canadian Constitutional Culture 31 Queen's L.J. 578-597 (2006) David Schneiderman Visiting Professor of Law Georgetown University Law Center [email protected] This paper can be downloaded without charge from: Scholarly Commons: http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/207/ SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1434674 Posted with permission of the author Edmund Burke, John Whyte and Themes in Canadian Constitutional Culture David Schneiderman 'f John U7hyte, the author observes, is committed to the idea that there are moral foundations to Canada's constitutional order and that these foundations are derived from liberal principles. This paper compares U7hyte's liberal and organ!cist constitutionalism to that of the eightennth century British political thinker, Edmund Burke. Three themes are predominant in U7hyte's work: those of liberty and security, unity and diversity, and constitutional change. Drawing out these themes in both U7hyte's and Burke's constitutional thought, the author argues that U7hyte has a sound historical basis for deriving Canadian constitutional practices from liberal principles ordinarily associated with Burke.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relation of William Hazlitt to Jean Jacques Rousseau
    m The person charging this material is re- ml sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILINOIS LIBRARY AT URBAN A-CHAMPAIGN BUILDING USE ONi?« BUILDING USE ONES OCT -31273 73- OCT - 5 IS L161 — O-1096 mm. THE RELATION OF WILLIAM HAZLITT TO JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU BV J. ALLAN NEVINS THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH COLLEGE OF LITERATURE AND ARTS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1912 N4| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS U 1912- THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY 6tU^%Ur-i^A J. ENTITLED Jhs^J&r— ^<rujl4Uaj^_ IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF- Instructor in Charge APPROVED: HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF 219613 o Chapter 1: Introductory There is one single passage in Hizlitt's works in which we can hear beating with stethescopic distinctness the most intense and unfaltering of all those English hearts which the events of revolutionary Europe awoke to passion and aspiration twenty years after Rousseau's death. Its words bespeak at once the glorious force with which that vision of a delivered hum- anity first possessed him, and the tenacity with which his soul cleaved unto it through life, while its expression delivers to us the main factors in a personality capable of such exthu- siasm and devotion. He is traveling, in 1825, through the France which he had not seen since the bo^fhood days of his studies in art.
    [Show full text]
  • (Byron and Shelley's Poetry of 1816
    This is a repository copy of Byron and Shelley’s Poetry of 1816. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/117322/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Callaghan, M. (2017) Byron and Shelley’s Poetry of 1816. The Wordsworth Circle, 48 (1). pp. 26-32. ISSN 0043-8006 © 2017 The Author. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in The Wordsworth Circle. Uploaded with permission from the publisher. Callaghan, M. (2017) Byron and Shelley’s Poetry of 1816. Wordsworth Circle, 48 (1). pp. 26-32. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Byron and Shelley’s Poetry of 1816 Madeleine Callaghan University of Sheffield Byron and Shelley’s literary and personal relationship has attracted much critical discussion. Their meeting in 1816 was extremely significant for the development of both poets, and Charles E. Robinson encapsulates the nature of their association when he affirms that “Byron and Shelley’s letters to and about each other demonstrate the thoroughness of their literary association: in a very real sense, each was a student of the other, whose works he read, criticized, and remembered” (Robinson 4).
    [Show full text]